It'll be better once they turn it into a good gun. Right now it's like the Old Eagle. Also everything is terrible on a TGI compared to a Harrier, so I'm not surprised you felt that way.

The Raptor recently got boosted - good to know it's viable now

I was expecting to take a hit on DPS since the Valkyrie is burst fire and not full-auto (figured maybe increased accuracy might balance it), but even if I spammed the trigger I was still chasing marauders down to close out kills.

Pity you don't seem to get any special achievement credit for playing the base Human classes.

They are mysteriously not represented in the achievements but powers and weapons that came with the original commons are. Definitely lame.

Also stupid, some characters and weapons are in there twice. Meaning if you are grinding your points, you definitely want to start with Geth and Quarians (I believe) since they show up in multiple titles. Also, some weapons have the 140k achievement and are also included in Aliens with a 200k achievement. Dumb.

Also dumb - they know exactly how many times you have promoted. Why can't you get credit for that promote challenge for what you have already done? Oh no, some people might get credit for all the effort they already put in promoting!? They might get 1k points right from the start! I fail to see how this is a problem.

I got a Collector SMG V over the course of the week (sigh) and decided to give it a go on the Turian Soldier. It'd be a good gun if it had ammo. It's relatively stable/accurate, the damage is fine, and the armor bonus is convenient for Dragoons. As is, it's extremely difficult to use because the small clip size even with double SMG magazine upgrades. If you accidentally go out of ammo in Marksman, the ammo does not come back until you activate marksman again, which generally means a good 4-5 seconds of nothing but melee. The PPR has the same issue but it recharges much faster and takes longer to go through a clip so I almost never run it fully out of ammo.

Since I was on a SMG kick and recently got a Hornet X, I decided to give that a go. I was running it with the stabilizer plus scope. With Marksman active you can put all three shots into the head at any range and Marksman reduces the refire time so that shooting is near-continuous. It's like a GPR but with more clicking and double the damage. I expect to switch over to it from the Tempest as my default Turian Soldier weapon with a Piranha as backup for boss killing.

I did some Gold runs with a Turian Sentinel, heavy on Power damage to mostly Overload the shit out of things. After playing a lot of Volus Adept and getting annoyed at how Dragoons, being armored, are immune to Stasis, I gleefully (ab)used that Dragoons are effectively "armored organics" meaning Overload stuns the shit out of them. Wasted Dragoons left and right through Overload, Warp, and general firepower (4Warp/6/6/4Veteran/6).

Tried the Paladin, hoping for at least some Tech Explosions, but he just doesn't have the survivability to get up close to get them (via melee or Snap Freeze). On Silver, sure, but not on Gold.

yes he does. Paladin is an incredibly strong class on Platinum, much less Gold.

Abuse the fact that Snap Freeze goes through walls and take the range upgrade - it goes a lot further than the graphic suggests. Use e-drain to keep your shields up, otherwise always be freezing and incinerating ... constant cryo detonations (if you use freeze, priming with it is better than detonating with it since the Paladin does have an annoying techburst bug) and you're on your way to points town.

I mean no you can't stand in the open and just tank five enemies, but you can't really do that in general with any class (that isn't a krogan vanguard )

e: theoretically you can shield bash with some superior timing to knock away incoming things like Atlas missiles or Banshee warps, but I find it a lot easier to just snap freeze through walls. No map is so open you can't work with a nearby wall or container, though some are obviously better geared for it than others.

Also dumb - they know exactly how many times you have promoted. Why can't you get credit for that promote challenge for what you have already done? Oh no, some people might get credit for all the effort they already put in promoting!? They might get 1k points right from the start! I fail to see how this is a problem.

I agree with this statement so, so much. I would love to get credit for the 20 promotions I did pre-N7HQ. I don't get it - they know exactly how many I've done per class. Run a script that gives me credit and updates my promotion totals - who cares if it takes like three weeks to comb the entire DB, or even make it so I have to push a button on N7HQ to get put in queue for it. No excuse.

I agree with this statement so, so much. I would love to get credit for the 20 promotions I did pre-N7HQ. I don't get it - they know exactly how many I've done per class. Run a script that gives me credit and updates my promotion totals - who cares if it takes like three weeks to comb the entire DB, or even make it so I have to push a button on N7HQ to get put in queue for it. No excuse.

Plussity-Plus-Plus when you include N7 weekends as well. They have a huge chart of Golden Stars. COUNT THEM.

Yeah, gonna agree with Psion here on the Paladin. He is fucking beast. I can solo silver geth with him and not feel particularly worried. Freeze everything. It not only can increase damage to enemies and slow them down, but unlike cryo blast, snap freeze does direct damage. E-drain is invincibility mode against anything that has shields, effectively allowing you to shield gate every 3-ish seconds with 40% DR. Add in incinerate for fire explosions against armor, and the guy is just straight beastin'.

He also has his best health upgrade at evo 4, not 6. The last evos are for the shield. So if you are really going for a gold/plat build and want to max versatility, you can go 6/6/6/4/4 and not miss out on health for your character.

When he first came out, he was very good. People were just trying to figure out how to use the shield effectively. Now, with cryo/fire explosions, he is one of the best characters in the game imo.

He also has his best health upgrade at evo 4, not 6. The last evos are for the shield. So if you are really going for a gold/plat build and want to max versatility, you can go 6/6/6/4/4 and not miss out on health for your character.

As an alternative, I go 6/4/6/4/6, with a Fire Shield upgrade for shield evo 6, because then I can do Melee->Snap Freeze for up close and personal fire explosions.

EDIT: No, not the best for platinum since ranged incinerate is generally more useful and safer than the melee.

What kind of weapons do you rock on a Paladin? I was trying SMG/Shotgun, but that's when I was trying to get up in Snap Freeze range anyway, hoping to freeze/Incinerate.

As long as I'm asking questions of ignorance, Graal Spike Thrower: does it need to be fully "cocked" to be used effectively? And once the slide up top has reached the front and just oscillates there, is the damage maxed, or does it go even higher? Visually, it looks "ready", but the audio windup seems to continue to amplify for a bit after that.

:confused: yes he does. Paladin is an incredibly strong class on Platinum, much less Gold.

What's the preferred spec? When the Earth DLC was out and I saw a bunch of snap freeze cryo shield piranha users but with the tech burst changes and the 100% bonus on snap freeze, it seems better to set him up for tech bursting. Mine is 6/6/6/0/6 using a Hurricane or Talon. It works well enough but I feel I could be better.

Edit: I should refresh before replying. In particular, I'm annoyed that my edrain doesn't fully shield strip. Does putting points into the racial fix this?

What kind of weapons do you rock on a Paladin? I was trying SMG/Shotgun, but that's when I was trying to get up in Snap Freeze range anyway, hoping to freeze/Incinerate.

As usual for power classes, I go for light weapons: Hurricane, Vindicator (piercing & stabilizer), or any of the many useful pistols. The N7 Paladin has the advantage that he can E-Drain or Incinerate from afar, and Snap Freeze or melee in melee range; as long as I'm firing off powers, my gun doesn't matter too much (well, except against Praetorians).

Also dumb - they know exactly how many times you have promoted. Why can't you get credit for that promote challenge for what you have already done? Oh no, some people might get credit for all the effort they already put in promoting!? They might get 1k points right from the start! I fail to see how this is a problem.

I agree with this statement so, so much. I would love to get credit for the 20 promotions I did pre-N7HQ. I don't get it - they know exactly how many I've done per class. Run a script that gives me credit and updates my promotion totals - who cares if it takes like three weeks to comb the entire DB, or even make it so I have to push a button on N7HQ to get put in queue for it. No excuse.

I imagine it's to give everyone a equal start to the challenge system.

What kind of weapons do you rock on a Paladin? I was trying SMG/Shotgun, but that's when I was trying to get up in Snap Freeze range anyway, hoping to freeze/Incinerate.

Doesn't matter. I use an Acolyte but the Paladin is best at short range, so take a light shotgun or something that won't ruin your cooldowns. You don't want to be shooting as much as you want to be tech bursting. Pirhana's nice.

e: actually given my third point below, maybe you just want the Acolyte.

Grayrest wrote:

What's the preferred spec? When the Earth DLC was out and I saw a bunch of snap freeze cryo shield piranha users but

6/6/6/4/4, spec for snap range, area incinerate/edrain, tech combo damage, etc. 5/3 if you're wiling to be squishier but hit harder with powers (take Stronghold gear in that case) - your basic job is "tech burst everything." With the Paladin's powers you can prime and detonate every tech combo in the game, so you maximize it. The shield can be handy even at 4, it's situational though - I almost never plant it but that has its uses.

melee used to be hilariously effective - still is, really - but with the tech burst changes there's little point compared to being able to constantly and consistently prime and detonate tech bursts with your powers. As in, melee is good, perpetual techburst is better.

Captainpuke wrote:

I don't think full shield stripping is possible without the cloak bonus on gold for most enemies.

What about 4/6/6/4/6? Use Acolyte to strip shields, E-Drain only sometimes for shield regen (and since it doesn't have an effect on unshielded organics, you can't get it to detonate your other powers consistently anyway).

Finally got to play with the Acolyte. Man, that think is broken. On Silver, I killed two Geth hunters in two shots; first stripped all shields, decloaked and staggered both (they were side by side), and the second finished them off, since they were at about half health after the shield gate.

It seems like now that shield gating on Gold is less than 100%, that the 400% bonus damage carries over past the shield, because it still seemed like I'd do more health/armor damage if I blew off the last sliver of shield than if I shot them without shields.

And finally got the Asari Adept, but it was too late at night to take her out for a spin, much as I wanted to.

Also, I got the Krogan Shaman. Anyone have any suggestions on what to do with this guy?

Finally got to play with the Acolyte. Man, that think is broken. On Silver, I killed two Geth hunters in two shots; first stripped all shields, decloaked and staggered both (they were side by side), and the second finished them off, since they were at about half health after the shield gate.

I'm curious if you can one-shot things in silver with it if you put it on a weapon class with a heavy barrel and consumables. I'd try it but the RNG has seen fit to only send me a level I. In any case, it's OP without the annoying charge up.

Artichoke Sap wrote:

Also, I got the Krogan Shaman. Anyone have any suggestions on what to do with this guy?

I think he's fairly bad. He inexpiclably has a base encumbrance of 30 and has Krogan Berserker instead of Krogan Battlemaster for the passive. The only two suggestions would be a melee build using shockwave to stagger (I tried this, found it unremarkable) and warp+incendiary ammo claymore. The Turian Sentinel does it better and I don't think that combo one-shots brutes anymore due to the armor increase but it's still entertaining. The major advantage would be the 1k base shields and that you can stack shield recharge up to 75% so you should be pretty durable.

What about 4/6/6/4/6? Use Acolyte to strip shields, E-Drain only sometimes for shield regen (and since it doesn't have an effect on unshielded organics, you can't get it to detonate your other powers consistently anyway).

You could, but I prefer e-drain to 6 because the 40% DR boost can really save your ass. I don't shield melee enough to take it to 6 now that the Paladin can be perma-techburst man.

Finally got to play with the Acolyte. Man, that think is broken. On Silver, I killed two Geth hunters in two shots; first stripped all shields, decloaked and staggered both (they were side by side), and the second finished them off, since they were at about half health after the shield gate.

It seems like now that shield gating on Gold is less than 100%, that the 400% bonus damage carries over past the shield, because it still seemed like I'd do more health/armor damage if I blew off the last sliver of shield than if I shot them without shields.

And finally got the Asari Adept, but it was too late at night to take her out for a spin, much as I wanted to.

Also, I got the Krogan Shaman. Anyone have any suggestions on what to do with this guy?

Ah, last night was great fun spamming Gold with you, Viridis, and Arbelac. And I think Acolyte is 500% against shields. Can't recall what it does to barriers.

Viridis, OP might need to be updated with this post about how various weapons interact with armor/barriers/shields. Also, ammo box details: 20s grenade cooldown is per box, not global (Silver/Gold AFAICT), ammo personal cooldown seems to be 3s for Silver/Gold.

Viridis, OP might need to be updated with this post about how various weapons interact with armor/barriers/shields. Also, ammo box details: 20s grenade cooldown is per box, not global (Silver/Gold AFAICT), ammo personal cooldown seems to be 3s for Silver/Gold.

Gah, updating the OP is going to be a monstrous undertaking. I was hoping nobody would notice .

Since I was on a SMG kick and recently got a Hornet X, I decided to give that a go. I was running it with the stabilizer plus scope. With Marksman active you can put all three shots into the head at any range and Marksman reduces the refire time so that shooting is near-continuous. It's like a GPR but with more clicking and double the damage. I expect to switch over to it from the Tempest as my default Turian Soldier weapon with a Piranha as backup for boss killing.

The Hornet is aces, in general. If you can get over the limitation of the three round burst, that thing does insane amounts of damage, and it's so accurate that almost every round lands.

1) I don't have SMG armor piercing yet, which hurts. I really want that mod.2) My trigger finger falls off. Seriously, ow, the clicking. Seems like it'd be even worse trying to keep up with Marksman...

Re the Shaman, I haven't deployed him yet, but have heard of people running him at 6/6/6/6/0 taking Shotgun weight reduction and giving him something like a wraith or at-raider. If you're willing to burn a CM III or IV, he can be a biotic tank, but I agree that the design of the class is pants-on-head retarded.

My trigger finger falls off. Seriously, ow, the clicking. Seems like it'd be even worse trying to keep up with Marksman...

I'm on PC and use a trackball, so it's thumb clicking for me. Click speed is slightly slower than a Mattock and with full consumables it's only 3 headshot clicks to drop a mob, so it's a lot less clicking than a Mattock. I use a shredder Piranha for bosses.

I am somewhat interested in how the shredder mod and high velocity barrel mod on the shotgun stack. It's the only gun you can put two armor reduction mods on but I haven't thought of a good test. Maybe Scimitar?

What kind of weapons do you rock on a Paladin? I was trying SMG/Shotgun, but that's when I was trying to get up in Snap Freeze range anyway, hoping to freeze/Incinerate.

Do you have a Talon? That thing is amazing. In fact, I like to pair it with the other "aces" weapon recently discussed, the Hornet. Use the Hornet for ranged shooting, the Talon w/piercing mod for mid-close range. A scoped Talon is accurate enough at mid-ranges that it is often the only weapon I carry.

Finally got to play with the Acolyte. Man, that think is broken. On Silver, I killed two Geth hunters in two shots; first stripped all shields, decloaked and staggered both (they were side by side), and the second finished them off, since they were at about half health after the shield gate.

I am somewhat interested in how the shredder mod and high velocity barrel mod on the shotgun stack. It's the only gun you can put two armor reduction mods on but I haven't thought of a good test. Maybe Scimitar?

Pretty sure you can use HVB and piercing mod with ARs. I don't typically use AR's, though, so I'm not the guy to ask.

Pretty sure you can use HVB and piercing mod with ARs. I don't typically use AR's, though, so I'm not the guy to ask.

I'd forgotten about that but I doubt it'd be useful because the barrel is 90% like the SMG.

If I had a Talon X, I don't think I'd use any other gun on a power class. Heavy Barrel and the shield/barrier bonus makes it relatively straightforward to hit the one-shot shields point and the multiple pellets ensures that your ammo effect always applies. It's a tech burst every shot. AND you can ULM it AND it has a decent fire rate/clip size. It's the only weapon to make an Acolyte look mediocre.

Do you have a Talon? That thing is amazing. In fact, I like to pair it with the other "aces" weapon recently discussed, the Hornet. Use the Hornet for ranged shooting, the Talon w/piercing mod for mid-close range. A scoped Talon is accurate enough at mid-ranges that it is often the only weapon I carry.

I have a Talon I, actually (one of 4 URs: Talon, Saber, Collector SMG, BW; all at 1). Haven't taken it out for a spin, yet. No Hornet, though.

If you all keep wondering why I'm always rocking an Eagle II, this is why. I just don't have a good collection of weapons.

Though, now that I've got an Acolyte I, it's going to a LOT more use until they nerf it.

The Acolyte has become my fav pistol for my Engineers,Adepts, and Vanguards (Vanguards usually get a Hurricane as well for elites). It's definitely hurting my Pistol challenge, as I refuse to play with any other gun at the moment. It's just too good at delivering consistent damage across a multitude of enemies without requiring mods to swap to something else.

Although, does anyone have any opinions about the Arc Pistol? I've got it at VI, and wondering if I did force myself to use something else, if that would be worth a try.

Pretty sure you can use HVB and piercing mod with ARs. I don't typically use AR's, though, so I'm not the guy to ask.

I'd forgotten about that but I doubt it'd be useful because the barrel is 90% like the SMG.

If I had a Talon X, I don't think I'd use any other gun on a power class. Heavy Barrel and the shield/barrier bonus makes it relatively straightforward to hit the one-shot shields point and the multiple pellets ensures that your ammo effect always applies. It's a tech burst every shot. AND you can ULM it AND it has a decent fire rate/clip size. It's the only weapon to make an Acolyte look mediocre.

Mine is at VII, and the only reason I ever carry anything else with a power class is to complete challenges. One gun to rule them all.

The Acolyte has become my fav pistol for my Engineers,Adepts, and Vanguards (Vanguards usually get a Hurricane as well for elites). It's definitely hurting my Pistol challenge, as I refuse to play with any other gun at the moment. It's just too good at delivering consistent damage across a multitude of enemies without requiring mods to swap to something else.

I only use the Acolyte with Asari ... it just feels too "lore breaking" for me otherwise. I also only use the Striker and Graal with Klingons, and the Reegar with Quarians. I'm kind of weird like that. If I were to follow that logic I guess I should only use the Mattock, Hornet, Harrier, and Talon with the ex-Cerberus characters, but I don't. I've actually never used my Harrier III or the Mattock, I'm just more of a powers-guy than a guns-guy. I have a few Harrier challenge points from when my buddy used my PC to go a few rounds online.

Quote:

Although, does anyone have any opinions about the Arc Pistol? I've got it at VI, and wondering if I did force myself to use something else, if that would be worth a try.

The Acolyte has become my fav pistol for my Engineers,Adepts, and Vanguards (Vanguards usually get a Hurricane as well for elites). It's definitely hurting my Pistol challenge, as I refuse to play with any other gun at the moment. It's just too good at delivering consistent damage across a multitude of enemies without requiring mods to swap to something else.

I only use the Acolyte with Asari ... it just feels too "lore breaking" for me otherwise. I also only use the Striker and Graal with Klingons, and the Reegar with Quarians. I'm kind of weird like that. If I were to follow that logic I guess I should only use the Mattock, Hornet, Harrier, and Talon with the ex-Cerberus characters, but I don't. I've actually never used my Harrier III or the Mattock, I'm just more of a powers-guy than a guns-guy. I have a few Harrier challenge points from when my buddy used my PC to go a few rounds online.

I believe you let your Star Trek dorkiness slip out there. Unless BW just released a new class with Worf or Khan in it.

A charged shot from an Arc Pistol fires three rounds at double damage each. So damage output is 6x ... combine that with a 2.5 headshot multiplier and it's supposed to be great for headshotting mooks if you can aim, which I can't. I think I'm going to try it with my MQI with Tac-Scan spec'd for headshots and see how it does. Seems like a Quarian type weapon.

Definitely won't catch any of my Klingons sporting an Arc Pistol. They always carry the shotgun with the bat'leth attachment.